Vehicles may be subject to side impact testing standards. As one example, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 214 provides a test procedure designed to simulate a vehicle experiencing a side collision with a pole. The test procedure of FMVSS 214 provides that a test vehicle holding a test dummy as an occupant collides sideways at 20 miles per hour into a rigid vertical pole 10 inches in diameter. FMVSS 214 sets forth requirements for head injury criterion (HIC), which is a function of the acceleration over time of the center of gravity of the head of the dummy. To take another example, Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Program), a safety regulator for several European countries, promulgates a similar test design.
These side impact testing standards are performed on a full vehicle equipped with side airbags, such as side curtain airbags and torso airbags. However, during the full vehicle test, the vehicle is demolished and thus cannot be reused. Multiple tests may be run to optimize or refine the design of the vehicle, requiring a new vehicle to be demolished for each test run.
What is needed is an apparatus to more cost-effectively test side impacts under side impact testing standards.